On whether he tries to forget about a game like the one against the Giants: "You watch it. I've watched it enough. There are just so many times you can watch it. You spend Monday watching the film and probably watch it five or six times and then you go on to the next game. Then you go through it with the players and correct stuff like that. You move on. You better move on. I know everybody wants to talk about it. Let me just say this, before we get on to Cincinnati. I'll congratulate the Giants—their offensive line is as good as I've seen this year. That's the best offensive line we have faced this year. I probably could have done a better job of the scheme. The thing about it is that we've done a pretty good job against the run game. I probably spent too much time—not too much time—(on) better coverage than run defense. That's just one of those things that happens. We'll play them (again). I'm not going to say too much about it because we play them in a couple weeks down the road, but that was a good offensive line."
On whether the problem was gap control or the scheme:"I think it was the scheme, more than anything else. I think I have to do a better job of scheme. I don't want to get too tied up in the run game, because it's still about giving up points. The thing about it is that, in that game, our main goal is to not give up too many points. We got our turnovers, but we gave up too many points. Every game is a little bit different. If you give a tight end 20 catches, you say we have to stop the tight end. We all know we have to do a better job against the run game. I think we have to scheme better; that's on me."
On how you bring a defense back to be ready for next week: "I think you appeal to their pride. I think they're down, as far as pride. I think this defense has pride. I think they are down after a loss, but you move on. The challenge is coming up against a Cincinnati team who, all of a sudden, is playing pretty well. You challenge for the next week and forget about that. I don't talk that much about it in the meetings."
On whether he is concerned about the size of the interior linemen:"We are what we are right now. We are what we are."
On whether he is happy with DT Brodrick Bunkley's play: "Yes. I think Bunkley played well last week."
On whether CB Lito Sheppard didn't play much because of his injury:"Yes, he hadn't practiced all week. He was going to be an emergency corner. He will play a lot this week. He hadn't practiced all week and I didn't think we were going to have him on Sunday, to tell you the truth. I didn't know until Sunday morning that we were going to have him for sure. If somebody had gotten nicked, he would have gone in."
On whether he only played one play:"Yes."
On whether the Bengals are a different team now than earlier this year: "Yes, they are a different team. You watch that game against a good Jacksonville team, a good defense. (RB) Cedric Benson had over 100 yards rushing, they threw the ball well, the quarterback scrambled, they took the first couple drives and go down the field and it is 14-0. All our guys have to do is look at that tape and see they are playing pretty well right now. It will be a tough place to play."
On the Bengals wide receivers: "You face three really good receivers. You face (Chris) Henry, T.J. (Houshmandzadeh) and Chad Johnson. You see a couple guys who have great speed getting outside and a guy like T.J. who has great inside moves. They'll be on the field. I would imagine those three receivers will be on the field 60-70% of the time."
On Bengals QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and how he has improved: "He seems like he is running the ball a lot better. I can't remember him running the ball that well with the Rams. He is running the ball. If the receiver is not open, he takes off. He is their leading receiver on third down, he and T.J., because he runs the football and converts the third downs because he's running the ball. It's a problem. It will drive you nuts."
On whether they will play in nickel 60 or 70 percent of the time: "I think so."
On where Sheppard is in terms of how many reps he will get: "He will be up around 30 or 40 reps."
On why Chad Johnson is only averaging around 9 yards per catch: "He is such a big-play guy that they are double covering him quite a bit. He is a deep threat, so people are playing two deep with a safety over the top helping him out. Sometimes when you do that, you have T.J. as the inside slot guy who is catching a lot more passes like a tight end."
On how he would evaluate the defense overall:"I think when you're playing good teams, you have to play your best game. Like I said before, I don't think we have played some of our best games against the better teams. I've said it before, we are not very consistent at times. The Giants are a very good football team. We are going to play them again. You never know what is going to happen. The Cowboys, the same thing. The Giants played pretty well. I'm not sure we played our best football game."
On whether he thinks the defense is still good: "Yes, I do."
On whether he will mention to the team that the Bengals almost beat the Giants: "Yes, no question about it. They've seen the film. We will show them different tapes. We will show them Jacksonville. Cincinnati should have beat the Giants, so they see how good of a football team this is, and that was at the Giants. All they have to do is put the tape on and we see how well they are playing and how well the quarterback is playing."
On what makes Cincinnati susceptible to sacks:"I think when (QB) Carson (Palmer) was there, they were taking a lot deeper routes. What we call a seven-step drop, and throwing a lot more deep passes. They struggled a little bit with their offensive line. That was part of it. Then, all of a sudden, you have Fitzpatrick, who is a scrambler. Sometimes he scrambles and sometimes he takes a sack."
On whether he is surprised that the cornerbacks only have four interceptions:"Yes, that's surprising to me. They have good ball skills. I'm surprised our linebackers don't have one. I think our defensive line has twice as much as our linebackers."
On whether the Bengals use their tight ends much:"They have a couple big tight ends. Blockers and possession types, but they're going to get the ball to those receivers more."
On why stopping tight ends has been an issue this year: "It hasn't been an issue to me. If a tight end catches 10 passes for 80 yards, to me that's not an issue. It's big plays and touchdowns."
On whether he is still fighting against experience at the linebacker position: "You're always going to fight that a little bit. I am happy with the way they're playing at times. They're experienced, but they're doing fine. I'm not going to throw everything in one game. I'm going to go back two weeks, three weeks, four weeks. I'm not going to just evaluate it after one game. We all want to do that, but sometimes I have to get it out of my mind too."
